Posted
by
CmdrTaco
on Wednesday July 04, 2007 @10:32AM
from the when-the-man-talks dept.

destinyland writes "Steve Wozniak just weighed in on DRM, saying "it doesn't make much sense if these things are going to have DRM forever." In this great new interview, he complains that even now, only six songs on his iTunes playlist are DRM-free. He applauds the Open Source Movement, saying "it's very honorable and it's very good for the customers." He's even considering publishing the hand-written code for the Apple II as a manuscript.
He's also surprisingly non-commital about the iPhone. ("Will word of mouth kill it or make it a hit? Who knows?") He also talks about his favorite pranks, and reveals that "the Secret Service read me my Miranda rights once.""

blockquote)Get It In Cash
(from: The Computer Entrepreneurs)
Fairs and exibitions are very important in the computer business - they are
where entrepreneurs display their wares and meet their customers. One of
the oldest of these shows is the West Coast Computer Faire, founded in San
Francisco in 1977 by Jim Warren. Warren tells this story about Jim Egan,
booth decorator, who worked the first Faire.
"So," says Warren, "these two bearded, hippie, pony-tailed kids in Levis
come up to the counter... and here's this old, white-haired guy that's been
on the show trail for 20 years, right? Every shuck-and-jive artist in the
world has come up to him at one time or another. So these two kids come up
and say, 'Hey! You know, we'd like to set up some of these really nice
chrome displays to make our stuff look flashy. And Egan says "Fine, I rent
them." And the kids say, "Yeah, but we're sort of short of loot. Instead
of giving you money, could we maybe give you stock in our company? It's
called Apple Computer." And Egan pounds on the table and says, 'Apple
Computer? Hell no, man! I deal in hard cash here. You want the displays,
you pay the cash!"
Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak went ahead and fixed up their own exhibit, and
Jim Egan is still in the booth decorating business./blockquote)

It's not a miracle. The guys in the store knew there was a customer with an easily troubleshootable problem coming, so they used the Woz Phone to call Woz. Woz then proceeded to press the secret button hidden in a bust of the last Pope (given to him by Henry Kissinger) to open the bookcase containing the sliding pole that leads to the Woz Cave. One short trip with the Wozmobile and a dose of Woz Instant Macbook Knowledge Pills later he was ready to solve her problem and the day. Those who were at the line will fondly remember the action-packed problem solving scene, complete with Diagnose! and Solve! captions appearing out of thin air.